Gitte Schäfer
29 Oct - 23 Dec 2011
© Gitte Schäfer
Hollows (Vassel For Two Round Objects), 2011
Odenwald Rose Quartz, Oranges
17 x 42,5 x 30 cm
Unique
Hollows (Vassel For Two Round Objects), 2011
Odenwald Rose Quartz, Oranges
17 x 42,5 x 30 cm
Unique
GITTE SCHÄFER
29 October – 23 December, 2011
October 18, 2011Gitte Schäfer arrives in Paris. The city is preparing for the Fiac, which will start on the following day. She decides to skip the dinner that we arranged at the restaurant “Le Petit Pergolèse“ to stay home and to be in form for the many engagements in the next couple of days.
Between a visit to the Fiac, private invitations and visits to exhibitions, Gitte Schäfer herself takes part in the show “Mémoires du Futur, the Collection Olbricht“ at the Maison Rouge with several works.
These days she would rather spend some time in Berlin to prepare for her upcoming exhibition at the gallery, which will open on October 29.
The exhibition has been set up in the meantime, just a few last details are being worked on. Gitte Schäfer will be showing five sculptures and nineteen wall objects arranged in the two rooms of the gallery. Each space will hold 12 works, as to create a form of mirroring. They are presented individually or in groups. These are assemblage works made of everyday objects. Found objects like picture frames, buttons, embroidery, washed out stones, postcards and flowers are utilized. They already seem to have long stories behind them and originate from different countries like Austria, France and the USA, countries where the artist had residency grants in the last year and a half. In those places she had the opportunity to visit museums of ethnology, archaeological collections and ethnographic exhibitions, for instance of Native Americans, and to collect artifacts for her objects at flea markets.
Calmness, modesty and balance are charateristics of Gitte Schäfer‘s personality, traits that reflect strongly in her work. Her examination of mythology and folk art, esotericism, superstitions, religious cultures and fairy tales are central to Gitte Schäfer‘s work, as well as the inspiration she draws from art history. The antiquity, the Renaissance and Modern Art, but especially Surrealism, are equally of importance. Formally, her objects refer to abstract forms or geometric structures in most cases, which could also be interpreted in a spirtual way. The poet Alphonse de Mallarmé once wrote: “Objet inamnimés avez-vous donc une âmes?“ Exactly this spirit is present in the objects of Gitte Schäfer, they carry names like Midas, depict birds of paradise and maids, Native Americans and Egyptians. They hail from various mythical cultures and serve as their angel-like envoys (Emissaries).
On October 31 the gallery will celebrate its 15th anniversary. To mark this event there has been a series of “celebratory publications“ released for each solo exhibition at the gallery during the course of the year. Gitte Schäfer‘s catalogue will be published in mid-November.
– Mehdi Chouakri
29 October – 23 December, 2011
October 18, 2011Gitte Schäfer arrives in Paris. The city is preparing for the Fiac, which will start on the following day. She decides to skip the dinner that we arranged at the restaurant “Le Petit Pergolèse“ to stay home and to be in form for the many engagements in the next couple of days.
Between a visit to the Fiac, private invitations and visits to exhibitions, Gitte Schäfer herself takes part in the show “Mémoires du Futur, the Collection Olbricht“ at the Maison Rouge with several works.
These days she would rather spend some time in Berlin to prepare for her upcoming exhibition at the gallery, which will open on October 29.
The exhibition has been set up in the meantime, just a few last details are being worked on. Gitte Schäfer will be showing five sculptures and nineteen wall objects arranged in the two rooms of the gallery. Each space will hold 12 works, as to create a form of mirroring. They are presented individually or in groups. These are assemblage works made of everyday objects. Found objects like picture frames, buttons, embroidery, washed out stones, postcards and flowers are utilized. They already seem to have long stories behind them and originate from different countries like Austria, France and the USA, countries where the artist had residency grants in the last year and a half. In those places she had the opportunity to visit museums of ethnology, archaeological collections and ethnographic exhibitions, for instance of Native Americans, and to collect artifacts for her objects at flea markets.
Calmness, modesty and balance are charateristics of Gitte Schäfer‘s personality, traits that reflect strongly in her work. Her examination of mythology and folk art, esotericism, superstitions, religious cultures and fairy tales are central to Gitte Schäfer‘s work, as well as the inspiration she draws from art history. The antiquity, the Renaissance and Modern Art, but especially Surrealism, are equally of importance. Formally, her objects refer to abstract forms or geometric structures in most cases, which could also be interpreted in a spirtual way. The poet Alphonse de Mallarmé once wrote: “Objet inamnimés avez-vous donc une âmes?“ Exactly this spirit is present in the objects of Gitte Schäfer, they carry names like Midas, depict birds of paradise and maids, Native Americans and Egyptians. They hail from various mythical cultures and serve as their angel-like envoys (Emissaries).
On October 31 the gallery will celebrate its 15th anniversary. To mark this event there has been a series of “celebratory publications“ released for each solo exhibition at the gallery during the course of the year. Gitte Schäfer‘s catalogue will be published in mid-November.
– Mehdi Chouakri